Future Skills Challenge 2026: bringing people and careers together

Last year, 1,100 people took on the Future Skills Challenge. The three who finished at the top were a software engineer from Spain, a rail roster clerk from the UK, and a former F1 Esports engineering lead from Germany. On paper they have almost nothing in common. So how did they end up beating a thousand others at a challenge built around advanced manufacturing skills?

The answer is the whole point of the competition. And this year, entries are once again open to you.

The gap

Two things are happening simultaneously. Young people are finding it harder than ever to get their foot on the first rung of the job ladder. UK youth unemployment hit 16.2% between April and June 2026. At the same time, manufacturers cannot find the people they need. The result is as many as 1.9 million manufacturing jobs at risk of going unfilled by 2033.

That is a frustrating mismatch. The work is there. The people are there. What is missing is a way for one to recognise itself in the other. Manufacturing careers have become deeply digital. But the routes into them have not kept pace, and crucially, most people never get close enough to industry to picture themselves in it.

Why sim racers already have the instinct

Here is what elite sim racing actually involves. Drivers and race engineers read live telemetry, respond to conditions that change lap by lap, and make fast trade-offs when there is no time to deliberate. They communicate under pressure, learn from every run, and feed that back into the next decision.

Now look at how a modern manufacturing team works, including the ones building Formula 1 cars. They use digital twins and production data to understand what is happening, decide what to change, and improve the real product on the next cycle. It is the same loop: read the data, judge the situation, act, learn.

This concept underpins the whole challenge. If you can hold your nerve and think clearly with data coming at you fast, you may already have the instincts industry is desperate for. You just might not have called them “engineering” yet.

The challenge itself

The 2026 Future Skills Challenge is a global online competition built with British Mensa, the world’s leading high IQ society, alongside Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing and Hexagon. It is 10 questions, against the clock, testing how you read race telemetry, apply logic, and solve problems when the clock is the enemy.

No engineering qualification. No manufacturing experience. No competitive racing background. If you are curious and quick, you can enter.

Entries are open worldwide until 21 October 2026. Take the Challenge

What’s on the line

The winning contestants take home a Fanatec sim rig (prize for 1^st place), a trip to the Red Bull Technology Campus, and a tour of the Oracle Red Bull Racing factory along with a range of merchandise. For anyone who has spent hours in a virtual cockpit, seeing where the real cars are built is a rare prize.

Where it leads: the Future Skills Forum at MK-7

The competition builds towards one event. On 17 November 2026, the top-performing entrants are invited to the Future Skills Forum at MK-7, an invitation-only summit at the Red Bull Technology Campus in Milton Keynes.

The day includes the prize presentation, behind-the-scenes access to the campus, and panels on how the industry can reach a wider pool of talent and build clearer routes into fulfilling data-led careers.

Your move

The three winners from 2025 proved that a job title tells you only a fraction of what someone can do. The Challenge is a chance to find out what your own instincts are worth. Compete for some genuinely brilliant prizes, and discover where a passion for racing or gaming could take you.

You have until 21 October. Take the Challenge